Toronto Sun blames Pak's 'undemocratic military administration' for blocking site

Islamabad: The Toronto Sun newspaper's website has been blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA).

The English daily is a tabloid newspaper known for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance. It circulates about 143,475 copies daily.

But it draws a relatively small readership from Pakistan.

The paper, citing possible explanations for the block, said, Pakistan is 'a military administration that in the past has shown scant regard for basic values of democracy, rule of law, accountability and a host of other principles we here in Canada take for granted.'

According to the Express Tribune, the story added that the tabloid had extensively covered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan's detention at Toronto Pearson International Airport last October.

Pakistani-Canadian columnist Tarek Fatah, an unsparing critic of Pakistan who writes for the Toronto Sun, expressed in his own words that the decision to block the Sun's website "is definitely politically motivated and it does no credit to the current administration in the national capital Islamabad."

The Pakistan High Commission in Ottawa neither confirmed nor denied the censorship of the website, Toronto Sun reported.

It added that the Pakistan press counsel would make a statement on February 4. (ANI)